Secrets in History.

By Kaimaler.

Disclaimer: I wish, but if I wish too hard, Ubisoft may just sue me. :O

"Who are you?" His accent was a rich Italian, something Vanessa was speaking fluently, but without previous training of any sort. The result of her transportation into the past was quite alarming along with the new tricks she's learned unexpectedly.

Naturally though, nothing was more stunning then actually being in the past.

"Officer Vanessa Ryder." Damn it, don't alarm him Ness! She cursed at herself, she is a police officer so it wasn't a lie; just not something to say when you're introducing yourself to a man whose entire body is covered in weapons. No a good thing to say at all.

He seemed to do exactly as she predicted. He stiffened, approached her more cautiously then he would've if she just gave her name. "Officer? You are a guard?" He didn't sound convinced, hopefully he believed her to simply be defending herself against an unknown. That would make life easier; if he suspected she was a helpless damsel that is.

"I didn't catch your name." She stated before he could continue on the matter. With a nod, the man swiftly took in her form. She wore odd dark blue clothing, no Templar pendants or markings, she wore a heavy looking belt with various accessories that he hadn't a clue what they were for. They could be weapons; he'd have to play it carefully.

"Ezio Auditore da Firenze." Vanessa knew instantly. Borgia wrote about him, mentioned his name time and time again. Maybe Borgia had kinship with this man? Didn't matter now, he would not be pope for quite some time. "You didn't answer my question, bella; are you a guard?"

With a smile, she just shook her head. "I'm a police officer, or guard as you call us, from a long ways away. Here, I'm just another traveler." She answered; he looked satisfied with it, no signs of distrust.

"What are you doing in Firenze if your duty is elsewhere?" He wouldn't admit it right now, maybe never, but the thought of a woman as a guard? It confused even him; he was sure his family would think the same. Telling her directly could cause trouble though; it may just make her mad if he even insinuated it.

That was a fair question. She hissed, she hadn't thought of a good answer for that one. "On accident." She slumped over, petting the horse beside her. It wasn't the most descriptive answer, but then again, she hardly knew the man. He could be a wanted criminal for all she knew.

Vanessa looked at his torso and waist. Glistening in the moonlight with pride were numerous exceptional conditioned daggers, some clearly used recently as they had blood on their tips. Now that Vanessa looked closer at his attire, she could see blood that stained his gloves and robe; he was rather clean save for a few blood splatters on the white robes.

Though the blood did blend quite wonderfully with the red belt around the trim and belt of his clothes.

The two shared a questioned look before he decided he'd spent enough time with the foreigner. She wore strange clothes, claimed to be a female guard, her accent was like nothing he'd ever heard before; of course she wasn't Italian, he'd be surprised if she was English, she didn't seem to be and last time he checked there were guards in Brittan too, not police officers.

"Well, it is time for us to part." He looked onward to the Florentine limits, "I should be on my way back now; it would be a pleasure to see you again; until then, farewell."

Say something, anything, he may know a way home! Or at least know what happened, he was in the journal; it's your only shot! Vanessa's mind screamed at her to say something, anything at all. "Could I join you?" Oh, great choice idiot. Now you sound like a crazy person. She closed her eyes, momentarily astounded by her bluntness.

Even Ezio looked a bit taken back by it. "I said I got here by accident and by 'accident' I mean that I just woke up in some back alley in Florence. I've been here a day from what I know and unfortunately, this is my first time in Italy." She sighed, knowing how ridiculous she sounded right now. "I haven't a clue how to get home."

He pointed to the paths out of the city limits. "There are boats far west and you can always-" She stopped him there by shaking her head, he caught the drift and settled, he didn't understand; how could he? She was being too vague.

Maybe I shouldn't tell him, he'd think I was crazy. That was a better idea then blurting out the truth in hopes he'd believe it and everything would go back to normal. Can I prove it to him? How? I don't know anything about him aside from others in Borgia's journal, I can't give him verbal proof and I still don't know where the journal is.

"I know you're trying to help out there; I know where I am, when I am, but..." She stumbled; she had no way to give him a reason to believe her outlandish tale of time traveling. Could she tell him people from the future perfected the art of time traveling and could do so as they pleased?

That was insane.

Then again, she'd believe it if someone from the future suddenly appeared in front of her saying they knew time travel like the back of their hand. But I'd want proof, of which I have none.

"But what?" He urged her on; did she not want to return? Was this more personal? What was she trying so hard to tell him?... Maybe she was trying to escape something, was he her way out of an arranged marriage? He had heard of many women seeking to find a way out of marriages their parents force on them.

She was too different, he didn't know her culture. Did her people even have arranged marriages? He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't have time to register what she was saying to him.

"I can't tell you how or why I'm here. I don't know myself." She ground her teeth, he foot tapping impatiently on the ground. "All I know is that I reading a book, a very, very old book, and then there was this bright white light and I couldn't see anything anymore. Next thing I know I'm waking up in Florence in some alley."

"I don't see how I can help you if a boat or a carriage cannot take you home." He suspected she was withholding something, though he knew it wasn't his place to pry.

"Because that symbol on your robes I've seen before, in that very book I was reading. There were names, a lot of names, but some had that symbol next to them..." His eyes narrowed dangerously, she saw it; she needed to choose her words carefully from here. He was in his right place to silence someone from spreading the presence of an assassin.

But, did she know he was an assassin? She didn't act like it, if she did, wouldn't she have mentioned it? He needed to see where she was going before assuming anything. Too much had happened so far for him, to his family, for him to just let a person go so willingly.

"Listen, Ezio, I don't know where else to go." She gave up trying to explain it; she needed to try another approach. "I can't get home because, in Italy, where I live doesn't exist on your maps. When I said I was from a long ways away, I mean the land I'm from is across the ocean; where I know just about nobody here has ever been."

"How can you be so sure?" A boat, she needed a boat ride. Was it florins she needed? "Have you asked every ship captain? You said you've only been here a day." He started to deny her statements; to him it was obvious that she didn't know much about Italy.

"America." She said her face straight and without a pinch of emotion. Ezio was sure she was trying to say something, she just said it in her language; wherever she's from.

"I'm sorry?" He grinned, this woman was either unstable or... something else Ezio couldn't pin. "I didn't understand that."

"America, that's the name of the country I'm from." She crossed her arms, "It's across the ocean, and Italians haven't even set foot on it yet, much less heard its name."

Ezio was surprised. He hadn't heard of 'America' before, but not even knowing about a country isn't in the best interest of any political government. Of course, Ezio knew some geography, but he didn't dwell on it so, he had much more work tending to the errands his father gave him.

Even if this place existed (which it's a possibility it didn't) Ezio wouldn't know of it. He was learning to be a banker, for a while before his sudden change in careers.

Then, he was interrupted by an exhausted sigh coming from the woman. "You know what, never mind. Its fine, go on and do whatever. I thought I had a hunch that you'd know how to get me home, but you don't so I can see I was wrong. I'm sorry about bothering you." She turned and began to walk away.

She is homeless, Ezio's mind wandered, She asked for help, I was willing to give it, but this tale! What a tale it is, how can I believe such nonsense? He fought to catch her and to leave. She would disappear; he'd probably never see her again.

He had business to attend to.

Just help her, maybe she is telling the truth, that 'America' exists and we don't know about it. He resisted rolling his eyes, What if she wasn't lying about trying to get home? About seeing the Assassin's symbol in a book?... with names? Ezio about hit himself for not paying closer attention to what the woman was saying.

She read a book with names in it and the assassin symbol marked certain ones. Was there a list of assassins out there? His uncle would never forgive him if she got away from him; with a list of assassins the Templars could destroy everything his father strived to achieve.

A list of assassins? His father's name would be ruined if he was known as an assassin. His uncle would be hunted, his men slaughtered, his mother and sister in danger yet again.

Now he needed her.

"Wait!" He called out; she was down the road a little ways heading back towards Florence as he turned his horse around and trotted up behind her. "Wait."

She heard him and stopped to see him waving her down brought a little hope back to her. "Yeah?" Count barked to Ezio, even her dog seemed happier that Ezio was trying to get their attention.

"I can take you somewhere safe, for rest, and maybe I can help you find a way to your home." He didn't know how, but she felt better knowing he was going to try. If she could actually trust him, she was more then happy to ride along with him until she reaches a conclusion. "There is a villa that will keep us safe for the time being." He waved her along, once more facing the exit of Florentine city limits.

She smiled, "Thanks." Ezio shrugged carelessly, "I cannot simply let a bella donna like yourself wander the streets alone at night. I couldn't live with myself."

Vanessa almost burst out laughing, she felt in a better mood now that she'd have a place to stay. "Ah, a killer and a charmer? What a dangerously thrilling combination."

Ezio, puffed with pride, brought his horse along side the horse she chose. "What can I say? I'm hopeless." Vanessa remembered how to ride a horse, she was just rusty. Swinging her leg over the horses' back, she settled herself on the saddle and until she felt ready, she made the horse walk along, so Count could keep up without tiring himself.

"Lead the way, handsome." She started this, she knew that, but messing with the man was too much fun to pass up. His egotistical expression as she mockingly complimented him was cute in her eyes; men of the past used old tricks, but they were sweet in their own corny way.

After hours of riding, they arrived at another walled in city. This time, Vanessa took note that she could see the ends of the walls; this city wasn't near as big as Florence.

"This is it, this is Monteriggioni." He introduced, riding ahead of Vanessa. "Where you'll be staying until we can find a way to get you home." He smiled, speaking in almost a sarcastic way.

She wasn't going to comment on his tone, he was giving her a place to stay so she hadn't a thing to say anyways.

Vanessa had street smart, she could survive in a dangerous city; it's the 'no way home' that's bothering her. She needed a place to stay, for a little while, before she returned to Florence to see if that book was still there. She was painfully aware that if it was, the longer she was away; the likelihood of someone picking it up out of interest grew.

That wasn't too important now though, she needed rest. It was late, the hanging of Francesco made her sick, and that was all she could bear before she had to pass out for the night.

As they neared the gates, Ezio dismounted first, pulling his horse into an open stable while Vanessa just walked up. About to dismount too, Vanessa looked and saw Ezio beside her horse, offering a hand to help her down.

Huffing, Vanessa swung her leg over the back of the horse and pulled her shoe out of the stirrup before looking at Ezio. "Ready, lover boy?"

That didn't have the same meaning in fifteenth-century Italy, Vanessa knew that well enough. The word 'lover' wasn't thrown around so carelessly here, but she didn't worry about it at all. She wasn't from here, she's from the future.

Holding his arm out, like a gentleman would, Ezio expected her to accept. He didn't know her for long, but it was proper for a man to do such... and proper for a lady.

Ezio blinked, staring at Vanessa's figure as she just walked past him. Then again, she wasn't a lady per say.

Accepting her denial, Ezio jogged to catch up with her just as she entered the archway. "This is my uncle's; I just help here or there." He stated, watching her, once more, scrutinize every inch of the small town inside the Villa's walls.

As she rounded a corner, the main street to the Villa manor was practically paved with stores. Doctors, tailors, blacksmiths, merchants of all kinds, art dealers, and even a bank at the Villa steps.

It would be impressive had the street not been half made out of mud and puddles of dirty water. If the stores looked like they actually carried something valuable instead of secondhand junk. The art dealer was trying extremely hard to make sure no outside grime damaged his paintings while the doctor looked like a wanted sociopath in his dark building with barely even an opening to trade through.

Had Vanessa lived here, she'd travel all the way to Florence just to get supplies. The blacksmith looked like he dealt in old, worn out toys.

This wasn't a very sanitary place, that's for sure.

Ezio noticed her disapproving grimace as she passed by different buildings and dodged muddy pools on the ground. He'd even admit Monteriggioni wasn't in the best of shape, but she looked at it like it was a wounded dog.

Even her dog avoided more questionable places.

"Ah~" He returned to her side, "I know, it isn't in the best of shape currently, but I am working to better it." He sighed happily, imagining the new Monteriggioni with updated buildings, a brothel, a guild, to make it a Villa suitable for his mother and sister, suitable for the hideout of a known assassin. "Soon, it will be beautiful."

Vanessa disagreed. "I'll believe that when I see it."

Climbing up the first staircase, Vanessa stopped and looked up towards the moss covered fountain. "That's the symbol. Why would you put that there?" She pointed up to it, "What do you mean?" Ezio was on his way up the second staircase as Vanessa walked up behind him.

"I mean, why would you put that there? Is it a family crest? An organization's logo? What the hell is it?" She didn't know one ounce of this mans' life. She was going to pry, she wanted to go home, right now, and he was her second best bet, counting that the book may possibly be in the alleyway in Florence.

"You do not know?" He tilted his head slightly; she was just talking about the symbol of the assassins earlier. Then again, she never actually said anything about him or his father being an assassin, she just mentioned the symbol was in a book she was reading before she arrived in Florence.

Vanessa felt like smacking him on the head, "If someone asks a question, Ezio that usually means they don't know the answer."

He smirked; she wasn't one for a calm discussion apparently. "Then perhaps it is best it stay that way." Vanessa gawked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Reaching the top, the two began walking to the Villa entrance. Vanessa saw the manor from a distance and thought that it must've been better then the rest of the city.

But no, it kept the broken, dirty, overgrown theme alive and well.

"It means signoria, that it may be best if you do not know my profession; as it is quite dangerous." Vanessa could easily see he was treating her like he would a damsel in distress; but then again, it was her plan to seem as such, wasn't it? She growled, "Sure, fine, I don't care. If your profession is so dangerous, I guess when I'm attacked by whomever your enemies are that I'll just have to take care of myself."

Ezio stopped a moment. She was right there, if the Templars discovered her acquaintanceship with an assassin, professional or just a friend, they'd do whatever they could to kill her. Or capture her and use as leverage, but if she tells them about the book with the names of his ancestry; his father, and his father before him, then they'd destroy his name and know exactly where to strike.

Now she was a liability again.

"Inside." He mumbled, dragging Vanessa into the manor.

She got to look at the inside of the Villa manor, it was different then the outside that was for sure. It was marble and stained glass, windows were still dirty and some barricaded with wood; but aside from those minor disturbances, the inside was fairly well preserved. There were a few cracks in the flooring, stains here or there, and of course, the magnificent chandelier hanging of the center of the ceiling.

She could live with this.

Ezio was disappearing into a hallway off to the right, as Vanessa ran up behind him; he turned into another room with Vanessa close behind and Count taking his time to explore the space.

Once in the room, Vanessa heard the sound of another man greeting Ezio. "Ah, nipote!" The two embraced shortly, "I await word, was your mission successful?"

Ezio nodded, "Yes uncle, but I'm afraid that will have to wait." He turned out of his uncle's sight to reveal Vanessa standing in the doorway with Count panting blissfully as she pets him. "I found this woman outside Florence; she recognized the assassin mark and approached me."

"Assassin." Vanessa tried the word, "So that's what you are." She was an officer of the law, one dedicated to putting murderers in prison. She wasn't in her land though, without jurisdiction, she had no effect over the assassins. Even though she despised any kind of killings; good intentions or not.

"Some are familiar with assassins, nipote. She's just one of them." Ezio's uncle seemed uncaring about her knowledge, Ezio predicted that. Courtesans, doctors, criers, and various others knew about the existence of a guild of assassins; just not what they were actually there for. "Why bring her here?"

"She claims to know about a book which contents have a list of assassins." Now his uncle looked interested, "She also claims that she was reading it just before she fell unconscious and then awoke in the streets of Florence without any memory of how she arrived."

"Hey, I remember clearly what happened beforehand." She stalked up to Ezio, "I was in the locker room hanging up my uniform for the day when all of a sudden there was a light, I couldn't see anything, and then I past out. When I come to, I was in an alley in Florence."

Ezio's uncle seemed a bit more confused then Ezio did when she told him the story, but in a sense that he was beginning to think his nephew brought home a crazy woman.

"Before we go any further, madonna. I am Mario Auditore." He bowed; manners were very important in history, either because it was polite or made them look better. Vanessa couldn't assume all the people were kindhearted individuals from heaven; she had to play a suspicious role now, the damsel act was sure to get her into trouble around assassins.

I know that name! His name was in the journal! She stared for a moment, it was rude, but she couldn't help it. These people, was she going to meet them all?

"I'm Vanessa Ryder." Unlike Ezio's uncle, Mario, she stuck to the common way to meet people from the twenty-first century. He was taken back by it for a moment, a man usually kissed a woman's hand upon meeting, she seemed far too different for that. "Nice to meet you, Mister Auditore."

Doesn't mean she was going to be more polite to someone who is older then her rather then the younger man standing next to her. He rose and instead shook her hand. "Just Mario, please." She acknowledged, "My friends call me Ness." He released her hand and smiled, a polite woman; if a bit off.

Ezio no doubt caught how much nicer she was being to Mario then him. She wasn't mean to him in the first place, but she didn't show the same manners to Ezio as she did to his uncle.

"So, a book?" He questioned the foreigner; she simply rubbed the back of her neck. "Yeah, I was on my way back to the precinct when I stopped at a library to look for a new book; when I found it, I bought it, took it to the precinct with me and began reading it."

She caught the looks both relatives gave her. Family in crime, she sighed. "Precinct. Like, guard barracks where I'd hang up my uniform and go home for the night." She explained, "Ah." The two replied unanimously, they didn't want to stop her there.

"Well, I've always wanted to travel to Spain and I've saving up for the trip for some time now, so I picked up a book in Spanish so I could learn the written language better." She shifted on her feet, she wanted to know more then she did about the book, but there wasn't much she could do about that now.

"So when I went to the locker room I spent some time trying to read through it. One thing led to another and, I don't how, but it was like I could speak Spanish fluently, I felt pretty happy about that until..." She trailed, saying a bright light blinded her and she appeared in fifteenth-century Florence. "There were a lot of names, some baring your symbol and others with a cross."

Ezio frowned; she didn't mention the crosses before. All it is was a Templar symbol, but perhaps there was a list of Templars with the list of Assassins too.

"What were these names?" Mario wasn't going to flatter her haplessly like Ezio insisted upon, she decided she like Mario more now.

"Well, your name; Mario Auditore. Ezio Auditore too." She pointed between the two, "Then some man named Giovanni, Altair... She wanted to remember every name, so she took her time scanning through the memorized names in her head. "Ilario, and... a few others that I've forgotten."

The two stood in silence, making Vanessa feel rather uncomfortable. Mario and Ezio looked to each other, "It is a good thing you brought her here nipote. Had they found out about her, she would've told them all they needed to know."

"What about the Templar names?" Ezio asked her, he seemed determined about the topic.

Vanessa blinked. "Templars?" She chuckled, "Templars! You've got to be kidding me!" She laughed loudly. It was all fiction, Templars don't exist anymore, they're all gone in her time. There was superstition that they secretly existed within modern society, but nothing more then a paranoid man babbling on about nonsensical things.

The two relatives looked very serious on the matter. Ezio wanted to know, Mario supported him, and with them as her only flicker of hope; she needed to answer.

"Oh, you're not." She bit her lip. There were more names with crosses beside them, she just needed to remember. "Vieri, Carlo, Tamir, Robert. That's all I can remember as far as names go, the rest of the book... I can't remember it all; I'd give it to you if I had it."

"You do not have it?" Mario was obviously concerned. "Do you know where it is?"

Vanessa shrugged, "Not sure, maybe it's back at the precinct or when I woke up in that alley, I didn't get a chance to look around before the guards came to get me. It may be still in the alley; I just didn't notice."

"Nipote-" Ezio understood before his uncle even spoke up. "I know uncle; we must get that book before someone else does." Mario grinned and patted Ezio on the back. "I'm sure you can do it, Ezio."

"Thank you uncle, I'll leave for Firenze tomorrow, I need my rest now." Mario turned his attention back to Vanessa, "But that wasn't the only thing I was going to say."

Ezio dismissed his own eagerness to sleep and listened to his uncle. "I was going say that you need to take her to Firenze to find the book." He smiled, chuckling at his nephew's shock.

"I cannot take her with me; just being near me would be too dangerous!" He exclaimed, pleading with his uncle. Vanessa just sat on the sidelines and watched the two relatives argue. "Only she knows the alley nipote, you'd never find it without her anyways."

Ezio crumbled, "She'll slow me down."

Vanessa let out a bark of laughter, "Slow you down? No, I don't think so. I'm a police officer; my job is to catch runaways. It'll be easy keeping up with you, assassin or not."

Mario smiled brightly, "See? She won't bother you Ezio, she's a..." Mario glanced to her; police was the same as guard. "... A guard, she'll be fine."

"If you don't mind, I'd love to know where I'll be sleeping." Vanessa chimed in, wanting to separate the two before Ezio tried a whole new set of excuses not to bring her along. "I'd hope to see you before we leave Mario, if not, I'll be expecting you when we get back."

He looked down at her hound, he had noticed the dog beforehand, but hadn't had the hound sniffing at his boots. "Don't worry; I will see you both off in the morning to make sure Ezio doesn't try to leave without you."

Ezio was pouting a bit to himself, but he wouldn't mind Vanessa's company so long as she didn't prove herself a threat to his work. He argued to himself that they'd only be going to Florence then return with or possibly without the book in possession. She'd be fine, he'd be fine, and with luck he could even have time to stop at Leonardo's and have him decode a codex he found recently.

"Alright uncle." He yawned, "We should rest before our return to Firenze. Goodnight uncle." Mario turned back to his desk, 'Goodnight Ezio, Vanessa."

With that, the two left. Vanessa could assume assassins weren't the bad guys... so far at least. She still didn't know anything about the Templars; but still relied on what she learned in school.

Templar's don't exist anymore.

Review Replies:

flyingcrispi: Bet you didn't expect me to update so soon, eh? :D
I update quicker with new stories so as to attract more readers. If people see it has 'x' number of chapters, was published recently and updates frequently, suddenly, I get a flood of new readers! Yay!

crystalfeathers: Ezio happened!
I'm not sure what I want to do between Ezio and Vanessa; a best friendship, a romance? What? Not sure, if people want that, I'll offer it, but for now it's all one big question mark to me.

Count is awesome, he's a supremely trained German Shepard; part of Vanessa's position as a K-9 unit in Atlanta, previously New York City. I'll be adding some more drama to the mix, but we get to meet Leonardo soon! And, since he's ultra-famous and such in modern day, it'll actually make her story more believable to our lovable assassins. Think about it, some time she'd gotta' tell them she's from the future, so someday she'll have to prove it.

Leonardo is a famous polymath, the most famous one in fact. He's just so awesomesause that no one can control the level of awesome he radiates.

Is it easy to tell Leo was my favorite character in ACII?